Administrative / Biographical History

General Sir Richard Bourke was born in 1777 in Dublin, Ireland. In 1825 the Colonial Office appointed him lieutenan-governor of the Eastern District of Cape Colony. When the governor, Lord Charles Somerset, returned to England on leave (and later resigned), Bourke assumed office as acting governor of the whole colony (1825-1828). In 1831 he transferred to Australia as governor of New South Wales; he resigned his office in December 1837. Bourke died in 1855 at his estate, Thornfield, Castleconnell, county Limerick, Ireland.